AT&T Inc Chief Executive Officer Randall Stephenson said on January 8 that more home-phone customers weren't paying their bills and sales to mobile and business users were holding up.

Shareholders ignored the second part, sending shares of the biggest United States phone company to their biggest one-day drop in five years.

Today they will be watching for evidence that Stephenson was right about prospects excluding home phones, Bloomberg News reported.

With the US flirting with a recession, investors are skeptical. "People think he doesn't have a clear view on what the situation is," said Bruno Lippens, who manages about US$7 billion in phone-company investments at Pictet & Cie in Geneva, including AT&T stock.

Concern about the economy may cause investors to look beyond the 55 percent increase in fourth-quarter profit the San Antonio-based company may report today, based on the average estimate of six analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News.

Profit probably rose to US$3 billion, or 51 US cents a share, boosted by the 2006 purchase of BellSouth Corp and a surge in subscribers for wireless handsets such as the iPhone, according to the survey. Sales may have almost doubled to US$30.5 billion.

AT&T shares have fallen 13 percent this year, including a 5.5 percent drop on January 8. They declined 15 US cents to US$35.96 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading on Tuesday and reached US$33.60 during the day.